What Goes Away and What Comes
by hiriki
Summary: "You know, no matter how much of a jerk you are… you don't deserve it. No one does. I'm truly sorry for you, Tahno."
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Korra, but I think this is pretty obvious. Yeah.**

**Important note: It takes place right after ep. 6. It's pretty much my headcanon for what happens to Tahno after... well. If you don't want spoilers of the episode, don't read it.  
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**Tahorra. First posted at my tumblr (greycrayon). Good reading! C:**

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He felt the very familiar touch of the water dripping from his hands as he wake up. The dirty ground in which he was lying felt cold against his chin, and while he lifted his own body up, he noticed he was feeling a great pain in a lot of muscles. His arms. His legs. His back. His head.

Tahno's eyes captured the confuse images of metal benders all over the place, alongside with fragments of what once was the pro-bending arena. Some of them looked at him with pity and annoyance merged in a single glare, others just gestured for him to go away of that place.

What the hell just happened?

The only thing he remebered clearly was the dizziness he experimented while being thrown off of the ring. Tahno rarely was pushed out of the ring in his regular pro-bending matches, so he guessed that feeling so unfamiliar with that was normal. But, wait. He wasn't thrown off by another team. Someone pushed him into the water, while holding him and his teammates.

Then it all come at once at his head - the masked face, the sudden panic that took the entire place, the voices, the fear he felt.

"I'll give you everything. Just please don't take my bending!"

That's right. His bending.

Forgetting the annoying pain that kept his legs trembling, Tahno turned to the water around him, and noticed that his hand was trembling too as he lifted his arm in the usual position he always used to bend water.

He made an abrupt movement with his right hand, which would usually make the water rise abruptely in a cilindric form and blast into the nearest solid thing. But nothing happened.

Tahno tried his best to not panic. That was a rough movement, and he knew that some waterbenders had problems doing it. Even himself, probably.

He lifted his arm again, and tried something more soft - a simple movement that should make the water float in the air. But again, nothing happened.

His hands trembled more. Well, that could be the work of a chi-blocker. That's it. A few minutes and it would be gone. Just a few minutes.

Tahno decided to wait, feeling incredibly impatient. As if his situation wasn't enough, now he noticed that a lot of the police metal benders that were surrouding the place started to stare at him, like they knew - or saw - something he didn't. He had the impression that one of them called for the Avatar name - Korra -, but wasn't sure. He hoped she wasn't around. The last thing he needed now was his great waterbender rival.

After what seemed an eternity for him, Tahno walked towards the water once again, and lifted his hand. This time, he tried a begginer's movement, that probably even a blind child of any water tribe could do.

And he couldn't.

He felt his eyes burning - a very uncommon sensation for him. Then, a single tear rolled down his cheek. Others were coming, but he supressed them. They weren't tears only of sadness - they were tears of anger, frustration, and emptiness, too.

He'd rather be dead than without his bending ability. Without being able to be a pro-bender.

- No. - he whispered, as he tried to do the same movement he tried just a few seconds ago. Nothing. - No. - Again, nothing. - No. No!

He stared at his empty hands - they looked stupid now. Tahno felt pathetic. The few metal benders around him started to go away, probably noticing that he finally realized what happened to him. They didn't want to watch that man in pain. Tahno missed his bending even more, wishing he could blast some cold water on those stupid police men.

Now he let himself fall on the floor, and kept staring at his hand while the tears were fighting against his eyelids. He couldn't see it, but his face was even more pale than usual.

Tahno screamed. He punched the floor, injuring his hand. And he couldn't care less about that damn hand. He just wanted to bend again.

He didn't know how long he kept sitting down and staring at his hands, without really see them. Tahno only knew that, at some point, a voice he knew very well came to his ears.

"You still here?"

Tahno violently wiped his tears, almost punching his own eye as he did so. Then he turned to face his most formidable pro-bending rival - the Avatar.

"And you still alive?", he replied, trying to wear his best ironic smile. "I thought that those equalist guys came for you."

Korra sighed.

"Not really. They just wanted to make a big mess. I guess we're at war now." She paused and took a long time staring at him. "Are you alright?"

Ah, what a funny question, he thought.

"Why do you even care?"

"It's not about me caring or not. It's about you looking like shit."

Tahno smiled a little.

"Why, thank you. I'll take it as a compliment, coming from a person who always calls me 'pretty boy'."

Korra rolled her eyes, and decided not to answer.

"Anyway, you better go home now, Tahno. There's a investigation going on here and all. I don't get what the hell you're doing here. I thought you fled in the moment Amon came."

The name made Tahno shrink. Korra kept staring at him, and she knew that something wasn't completely right. He wasn't telling everything.

"...What are you hiding?"

"Nothing."

"You look weird. You're not even standing up."

"I don't see how this means I'm hiding something."

"Body language means a lot, pretty boy. You're not telling me everything. And I'm not talking about you cheating on pro-bending matches."

"You know nothing, Avatar." He stared at her emptily. "And that's why you have no right to judge what I do or to want to know every single shit about me."

Korra felt the anger going through her veins.

"Fine!" she almost screamed as she turned away. "Do what you want. You're right. I don't care. And if you keep being a jerk, no one else will care too."

Tahno watched her ponytail wavering in the air as she turned away. He had to say it. She would find out anyway, even if he kept quiet. She was the damn Avatar. He'd rather tell her himself than having her listening it from someone else who could distort what he went through.

"I've lost my bending."

Korra stopped walking. She slowly turned to him, with big surprised blue eyes.

"He took it away", said Tahno in a low voice, avoiding the blue orbs. "I think he did the same to my teammates."

The Avatar breathed in and out slowly, and kept staring at him. She knew that kind of fear - the fear of losing everything she was. Everything Tahno had just lost. His pain was probably thousand times stronger than hers.

"I'm... I'm so sorry, Tahno."

He kept himself in silence for a while, before answering.

"Don't pity me. I'd rather having you make fun of me or some shit. Just don't look at me like I'm some sort of poor little thing."

"I don't pity you!", she said, but Tahno could see her eyes filled with pity. Pity and a little bit of sadness. "It's just... so terrible. I wish I could have done something." She took a small breath. "You know, no matter how much of a jerk you are... you don't deserve it. No one does. I'm truly sorry for you, Tahno."

Tahno decided not to answer. He thought about how many times she called him a jerk, and how much he wanted to be in his best mood to answer that in a proper way. But he wasn't.

The next thing he knew was that she was sitting in front of him.

"There was a time I thought he would take my bending, too" said Korra. "I challenged him, and he captured me. He could have done it, but he said he was saving me for something bigger. I have nightmares about it." She regretted saying the last phrase, almost sure that Tahno would tease her. But he didn't. His empty eyes were staring the space next to him. She wasn't sure if he was even listening, but decided to continue.

"He tried to take Bolin's bending away, too", Korra said as she noticed how messy the usually-flamboyant hair of Tahno was. "But we were lucky to save him just in time."

"Good for you and for your friends", he said in a low voice.

"No, there's nothing good about it." Korra stood up, and walked until she was blocking his vision completely. Tahno stared at her, looking a little annoyed. "There's nothing good about having to worry everyday if our bendings will be taken away. If we can have a pro-bending match without a bunch of equalists destroying everything." For the first time, to Tahno, she looked more like a real Avatar than a little girl. "You are a victim of Amon, Tahno. You can fight with us. You, more than me, or Bolin, or Mako, knows what is it to live in fear. To be taken away of yourself."

"Well, it's great to know I'm the source of such great knowledge. But I don't think it'll be helpful to you, Avatar."

"You can fight against him, you can fight with us-"

"You keep saying this", he interrupted her, stooding up slowly to face her properly. The pain attacked his legs. "But you forgot I don't have a way to fight anymore. I've lost all the power I could have, dear Avatar."

"Bending is not the only way of being powerful!" Korra got closer to him, resisting to the urge of shaking Tahno by his collar - maybe he would work better with a little bit of violence. "And winning Amon it's not about power. There's a lot of ways you can help, Tahno."

"You've forgot", he said slowly, "that I'm not your friend. We're rivals."

Korra changed her usual annoyed face she used for Tahno to a softer expression.

"Do you see that arena?" She pointed out the place. "Up there, we're rivals. But it's in pieces now." She patted on his shoulder, and Tahno almost cried as he felt his entire body in pain. "Let's end up this mess so we can get our arena back and engage in a fair combat. Then I'll be your rival. But we'll need to face Amon to get it back."

Tahno used his best ironic smile.

"I'm afraid I can't be your enemy on that arena anymore. Not your enemy or anyone's enemy. Not in pro-bending." His chest got a little tight.

"Then let's be allies!" She spoke so loud that Tahno shrank with surprise. "You and me, pretty boy. I'm sure you've got what it takes to punch Amon's face. Just let me know if you appreciate the idea."

With that, she walked away, taking a shortcut to go upstairs, where Lin Beifong requested her presence. Tahno sat down again, her words floating on his head.

It felt like a part of his emptiness walked away and disappeared, just like Korra did.

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**ahsdjodfko I just love this pairing. I know they'll never be canon, but whatever. I love every pairing at TLoK, but this one is pretty much my OTP. ****Shall I write another chapter of this? xD **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer (again, yeah): I don't own Korra or Tahno. Or Tenzin's kid. And anything else here. Yeah. Weeeird.**

**I had plans to make this a bit more darker, but it end up turning quite fluffy somehow. That's why I'm changing the story genre. LOL**

**Have a good reading!~**

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It was early in the morning that Korra started a new day of air bending treinament. No, she didn't like it. _Especially_ the part about waking up with the birds. She knew that she'd probably spent the rest of the day yawning and being lazy at everything because of this. And that's what she was doing - yawning and being lazy - after a few hours of training.

The sun was a bit more higher in the sky, and she guessed the lunch time was only a couple of hours away from her. Pouting and muttering about how much she hated mornings and air bending movements, she made her way through the training camp of Air Temple Island to repeat a sequence of movements that Tenzin just ordered her to train. Well, that was very nice. While he could have a nice normal morning in Republic City after tossing some bending exercise at her - and, more important of everything, being able to lunch whenever he wanted -, she had to spent the damn morning training something that was amazingly difficult and boring, and hoping that lunch time would come sooner.

After spending what felt like two years - but in fact, it was only two more hours - being divided between giving all of her attention to the urge of freedom she felt or training properly to fulfill her daily duty as the Avatar in training, Korra decided to try something even harder for her - to meditate. She didn't like it a lot, but she knew it was the best way of focusing on a task. Specially if the said task involved air bending. Korra sat on the floor, taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.

Korra couldn't tell if it was because she was hungry or something like that, but she managed to concentrate much more easily and quickly than she ever did before. Taking the utmost care to not let the feeling of accomplishment destroy the calm atmosphere she spent so much time building up, she let a small smirk appear across her face as she breathed heavily one more time.

This time, she'd definitely do it. She would leave that camp bending air, leafs, flowers, and everything else that existed in her way.

Apparently, Ikki didn't share that feeling.

"You won't believe it, Korra!" the piercing voice of the youngest daughter of Tenzin made Korra almost jump out of her skin. "Guess what just happened!"

Korra couldn't help but pout at that situation. She was so close.

"Uh, I don't know", she answered briefly, letting her left eyebrow raise up a little. "Actually, I was training-"

"Forget it!" Ikki sure was excited. "There's this super creepy weird guy looking out for you! I don't know who he is, but he smells nice! He smells like candies! Do you know Mr. Creepy?"

The unnecessary amount of unrelated information collided against Korra's sleepy mind. She blinked twice, trying to understand the situation.

"Wait. Did you said someone is _here_, looking for me? Mr. Creepy, you said... is it Tarrlok?"

"No, not the three-ponytails guy! It's much more younger than him, and much more creepy!" Ikki took a small breath, before adding: "And Naga is about to eat him!"

"Yay! Eat him!" Meelo appeared behind his sister, bending the air around him and messing with Ikki's hair.

"What?" Korra's brows disappeared under her hair. "Naga doesn't eat people! I've left her in the south entrance, I don't see how-"

"Hey!" The annoyed voice of Jinora came from behind. Korra wondered why the hell Tenzin's kids were gathering around her out of nowhere. Airbender qualities, she thought. "You didn't tell me a thing about this other boy, Korra! I know you have your issues with your firebender, but now there's this really charming guy with this really charming voice looking for you-"

"He's not charming! He's creepy!" It was Ikki's turn to cut her sister words. "And I already told her about Mr. Creepy!"

"Eat him!" Meelo screamed again.

Korra felt herself going into the verge of sanity. She wasn't sure that her woke-up-early-self was the best to deal with all of Tenzin's kids at once. And for some creepy charming guy being eaten by Naga, also.

"Wait a minute. Didn't he said his name?"

Jinora raised her hand to answer.

"No, he didn't. Not to me. He only asked me to bring you to him in a _very nice _voice. Who is he, Korra? Don't tell me, is he your boyfriend? What about the firebender guy?"

"What? What makes you think that a guy looking for me is my-" she couldn't help but gasp at the weirdness of the word in her mouth "-my _boyfriend_ or something?"

"Your boyfriend? Spirits, Korra, you need to go! Naga's sure going to eat him! I've just saw her going all RAWWR at him!" Ikki's excitation with the situation made her float around in the air.

Korra rolled her eyes. She could spend the entire day arguing with them.

"Well, whatever. I'm gonna find out by myself. Just calm down you all, okay?"

"Good luck with Mr. Creepy!" Ikki screamed as Korra jumped over the small fence that surrounded the camp. Even when she was already much more far, she was still able to hear Jinora's voice:

"You better tell me everything about your date, or dad's gonna hear about you abandoning your training for some pretty boy!"

Korra rolled her eyes again. Yeah. She sure was going on some wild adventure with the prettiest boy in the world. Sure thing.

In her way to the south side of the Air Temple Island, Korra couldn't help but think at Ikki's words about Naga eating the visitor. It wasn't like Naga to attack people out of nothing, and Korra couldn't think in a reason for her to do that out of the blue. Maybe that was just Ikki's craziness. Or maybe she was right about the creepy part, and Naga probably felt it too. The only time she could remember Naga being a little close of what would be an angry polar bear-dog was when she scared Tahno in the noodlery, but only because Korra asked her to...

That's right.

So it_ was _a pretty boy, after all.

"Tahno!" She exclaimed in realization, at the same time she saw a playful Naga chasing around a small mess of black hair that could be Tahno.

Getting closer to the situation, Korra was able to understand better what was going on. Apparently, Naga was greatly interested in Tahno's hair, and kept trying to grab it with her mouth. Instead of trying to put the polar bear-dog out of his way, Tahno was simply running around and doing his best to not scream for help. He could have lost his bending, but his pride was as strong as ever.

"Over here, girl!" Korra tried calling her best friend. "C'mon, I feed you properly every day, there's no need to eat Tahno's hair!"

After some insistance, Naga gave up and ran to Korra. A not very amused Tahno stood up to face her, his hair as messy as ever.

"You should have warned me that would be _this dangerous _to see you."

As much as Korra wanted to laugh, specially considering the weird combination of his annoyed face with what was supposed to be his hair, she didn't. She could feel from his voice and manners that he was doing his best to not scream at her, and it wouldn't be fair if she couldn't supress herself a little too.

"You should have warned me you were coming, pretty boy! We haven't talked in ages." She grinned, deciding that it wouldn't hurt to mock him a little. "Are you up to some armored combat private lessons or something?"

"How graceful of you, _Uhvatar_." Tahno returned her grin, and she noticed how much it changed since the last time he grinned for her, when he still had his bending. There was something sad surrounding it. "But not yet. Actually, I've came to talk about that invitation of yours."

Taking a little more time to look at him, Korra noticed he looked a little better than the last time she saw him. In the first time they encountered after Tahno had his bending taken away, he was in a soaking-wet pro-bending uniform, with a sad face and a couple of tears in his cheeks. After that, she managed to saw him wandering in the marketing, with a messy hair and some heavy bags under his eyes. Now, he seemed to have regained a little of his old self - the bags were smaller, and he was wearing his old nice clothes that made him look like some arrogant spoiled boy in Korra's eyes; and she supposed he probably tried to do something about his hair too, but Naga was very efficient destroying it.

"Well, that's great!" She smiled at him, resting a hand on Naga's neck. "Did you decided to help me taking Amon down?"

"Does the almighty _Uhvatar_ needs any help?" He grinned a little, though his eyes weren't smiling at all. "If that's the case, I might just go and do my best. It's not very nice of me to leave tough issues to a lady alone."

"What's with the chivalry, pretty boy? I'm not alone at all! Don't forget Mako and Bolin."

Tahno rolled eyes.

"Oh, right. I've forgot the annoying pro-bending bros." The way he said 'pro-bending' sounded almost painful. "So, do you expect me to go on a nice life-risking adventure with you and your two boys?"

"Yeah, kind of. Oh, and they're not my two boys. It's more like we're friends."

Tahno didn't say a word. For some reason, he was deeply interested in staring at Korra's shoes.

"You know, that could be really good for you", she added, hesitantly, "Friends and stuff. We're together in this, Tahno."

"What? Do you expect me to be friends with your boys?"

"Yes. And no, because they're not my boys, as I just said. But yes." She grinned. "_And_ with me too, if possible."

Tahno smiled. It was a sad smile, and it matched his eyes very well.

"Sorry, _Uhvatar_. I'm not looking foward to the nice rainbow-ish friendship path. The only thing I want is to have my revenge against Amon."

Korra pouted; there he goes, being the usual unfriendly guy he was. She was about to change it. The sadness on that face - that face that used to grin so ironically at her - was annoying Korra.

"Well, I don't think so." She pointed a finger in his direction. "You wouldn't go out in the streets smelling like candies and taking proper care of your hair, no matter how much you're depressed, just to take Amon down."

_Smelling like candies._ Spirits. Where the hell did Ikki get that phrase?

Tahno raised a brow, being confused and amused at the same time.

"Do you think I smell like candies?"

"Well, yeah!" She couldn't back down now; Korra was determined to make Tahno see it. "Actually, that's pretty much how I found you! Yeah! And probably also why Naga was wanting to eat your hair!"

The sadness on his face was having to fight for space against the confusion going through him.

"Uh, thanks, I guess."

But the sadness was still there.

"Also, I think your hair looks much better like this!" She gestured to the messy hair above his forehead. "You know, you shouldn't even worry about trying to make it look like it was before. It suits you better this way. I can see more of your face like that!" _Spirits, what was she talking about? _Was that the right way to cheer someone up? "And I think you'd look really nice with a sword. A knife, maybe. I've used swords once, I think I can teach you a bit! We could get you one, and then you'd be perfect! What did that stupid chi-blockers got against swords and stuff, huh? I'll tell you: nothing! Those guys are a pain in the ass for me, since I've got no weapons and stuff, but I'm sure you'd kick their asses and they wouldn't be able to do a thing about it! What do you say, huh? Sounds tempting?"

Korra took a break to breath properly. Tahno was staring at her in the same way he stared at Naga when they first met - his eyes reflected fear, confusion, surprise and a weird urge to run away.

But there was no sadness. Not anymore. "At least for now", Korra thought.

She couldn't help but smile.

"See? A few words and you look great!" She coughed. "Not that you didn't looked great before, of course. I'm not implying it." Korra kept herself quiet for a bit, until the akwardness going through the air made her realize that she just said some weird stuff. "But I'm also not implying that I think you look great. Of couse, you do, but I'm not saying this in a weird way. Yeah. Uh."

For some reason, her last words just made the akwardness around them become even more intense. Tahno kept staring at her in a confused way, and she only hoped that he could stay like that for a while - quiet. And not sad. Confused, but not sad.

She only hoped.

Korra felt the angst going through her veins when Tahno's confused face slowly turned into a wide smirk, and he looked like he was about to make the funniest joke ever.

_"Well done, Korra", _she thought. _"You tried to cheer up the guy in the weirdest way ever. He'll never let me leave in peace after today."_

She was ready to deal with anything that could came out of his mouth - she was ready to even punch him, if it was necessary - but she didn't got a chance.

"Look! I've found Korra and her boyfriend!" Ikki's voice echoed all over the place. Korra froze. Oh well.

"Don't say it out loud! She'll notice us!" said Jinora in a whisper that could be heard very well, thanks to the akwardness that made the place so silent.

"I've already did! Stop it, would you?" Korra's voice was mixed in anger and akwardness. Always the _akwardness_.

The two small airbenders came out from a bush, flying all over the air and laughing. Korra could feel her veins pulsing furiously.

"Get down here, you two! It's not nice to eavesdrop on people's conversation, you know?"

"We just wanted to see your new boyfriend!" Jinora shouted from the air.

"Spirits, he is _not_-"

"And mama asked us to call you for lunch!" Tenzin's eldest daughter smirked. "You can bring your boyfriend, if you want!"

The sisters kept laughing as they floated away from Korra's angry form.

"These girls! Seriosly, what's up with kids these days? They're always like that!"

As the sisters were gone, the akwardness got more intense. Tahno's smirk was still there. Korra almost missed the sad, frail Tahno with teary eyes. Almost.

"So", he said in a calm voice, "I thought you said you wanted to be my friend. How did it turned out like that?"

"Like what?" She raised an eyebrow, silently daring him to defy her.

"Like me being your boyfriend. Things sure happen quickly here."

Korra tried to give him the biggest pout she could make.

"Shut up, pretty boy."

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**N.A.: So yeah, this turned out to be a lot more happy and fluffy than I expected. I guess that the reviews I've got made me so happy that I couldn't bring myself to do something sad. The first chapter was written before that Korra Preview of ep. 07, with poor baby Tahno with bags under his eyes and all. That preview really got me emotional, guys. I've got so excited to see my Korra OTP going all emotional that I've got all like AJSDKDFJDSMFOSK FEELINGS and had a headache for 3 days because of this. LOL Here, I tried to make a somewhat worried Korra trying to cheer Tahno up, even though she's really confused about how doing it. And then he just goes all cocky on her, because it's his specialty. I'm sorry if they're OOC or something, I've done my best to keep them on character. Thanks for the amazing feedback and I hope you all have enjoyed it! I might do as well an epilogue or something, just a special history I had in mind. But I don't know yet. Again, thanks for reading!**


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